As many of you will know I have a long way to go in terms of fitness and losing weight before I can join, so I am looking at doing a course from September to June to keep the old grey matter going!

I want to be on mine sweepers so I guess I am looking at Mine Warefare Spec. My question is do any of you think any of these courses would be of benifit or a waste of time for that?

I am very interested in being a ME and AET, but dont know what the chances are of getting to Faslane are, guessing there are not good (and the LH, PO courses are very long and that does slighty put me off)

I know I have a long way to go before I get fit enough so thought doing a course in the mean time would be good.

The short training time for a MWS appels to me, but as its (this is going to come out badly no matter how much I dont mean it to) are the prospects poor? as it has one of the lower scores required?

If you want mine hunters then you can bin AET straight away.
As for ME as far as im aware they do not draft straight to mine sweepers. I think you need to be an ET1 to be on a sweeper as the crew is so small. They need everyone to already have a good idea what they are doing. If you want sweepers then basicaly the best job to pick really is OM (MW) (not sure on the new correct term.
As your hubby is a submariner and they only have subs in faslane and guz. And they only have mine hunters in pompey in faslane. Really they would draft you to faslane to be together.
Is your husband happy with getting a shore draft and being a house husband?
As im pritty sure in service couples (with children) can only have one partner drafted to a sea going unit. The other has to be in a shore draft (for obvious reasons)

Hi
Thanks for the reply, I think everything points to mine warefare spec, and I think I will enjoy it to. He would be happy having a shore draft sure, he even said he would leave so I could join even thou he loves it, as being in the armed forces was my dream! (he just got in there first) I am VERY lucky the way he sees it is, if he can swan off on this boat and leave me behide I can do the same on a ship. We both feel our daughter would be equally brought up by both of us, and I did have a disagreement with my dad who said its not right leaving a child with its dad you can never replace a mother...blah blah blah, I have always disagreed as we are equal and I wish more people saw fathers and mothers as equal (sorry rant over) Oh I would never let him leave for me anyway, as its not fair on him.

Any ideas on the courses as need to get application in? and prospects? would I get a shore draft sometime or not?

I think most of the time (depending on the needs of the service). You get decide between the two of you who is the sea going partner.
I think you should be able to get a shore draft as the MCM is run a squadren so i think you could get a draft there and bassicaly just do maintenace on the ships when they are along side.
If your hubby did decide to go shore side i think he would loose his submariner pay. (my understanding is you keep it if you get drafted from subs to shore or general service, but if you voulenteer you loose it).
As for courses im not really sure. I dont know much about mine warefare and i dont imagine there is much in civi life which is simaler. How are your GCSE's? english and maths. Good thinks to have further on in your career. Or even just in life in general.

I currently have 4 A Levels and 12 GCSES A*-C (including double science, maths and english) You have really helped it really feels possible now THANK YOU for your help

Oh when I ment prospects I ment promotion, is promotion the same for all branchs? as I believe I have read on here MWS and stewards rerquire the lowest scores, so are they less likely to get chances to get up to LH/PO etc?

I am not worried about gaining anything for civvie life I want to finish my working days in the RN (plan to)

I currently have 4 A Levels and 12 GCSES A*-C (including double science, maths and english) You have really helped it really feels possible now THANK YOU for your help

Oh when I ment prospects I ment promotion, is promotion the same for all branchs? as I believe I have read on here MWS and stewards rerquire the lowest scores, so are they less likely to get chances to get up to LH/PO etc?

I am not worried about gaining anything for civvie life I want to finish my working days in the RN (plan to)

I currently have 4 A Levels and 12 GCSES A*-C (including double science, maths and english) You have really helped it really feels possible now THANK YOU for your help

Oh when I ment prospects I ment promotion, is promotion the same for all branchs? as I believe I have read on here MWS and stewards rerquire the lowest scores, so are they less likely to get chances to get up to LH/PO etc?

I am not worried about gaining anything for civvie life I want to finish my working days in the RN (plan to)

Sharon,

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Promotion in engineering branches is probably quicker than in most trades.
But promotion is what you make it to be honest. I have been told its not that bad for stewards as apparently they are really short of LH stewards. But to get to PO wil take a lot.
In enginering branches any one who is motiveated and hard working can expect to progress to CPO much quicker than any other branches would expect.
Even more so now with the new ET branch structure.
AS for MWS i dont know as i have any thing to do with them.

Being as you already have the basics I wuld recommend the HNC in Electrical Engineering. It used to be the case that ONC was required before progressing to HNC however perhaps your A levels may be taken as the pre-requisit if you are a mature student.
If you take HNC in Aircraft Engineering you will be restricting your options a little.

I currently have 4 A Levels and 12 GCSES A*-C (including double science, maths and english) You have really helped it really feels possible now THANK YOU for your help

Oh when I ment prospects I ment promotion, is promotion the same for all branchs? as I believe I have read on here MWS and stewards rerquire the lowest scores, so are they less likely to get chances to get up to LH/PO etc?

I am not worried about gaining anything for civvie life I want to finish my working days in the RN (plan to)

Sharon,

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How did you get your English?

There is an 'a' in meant, and I'm ignoring the typo.

Hugs and kisses.

Jimbo

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I may have a C at GCSE english but I am dyslexic and I will freely admit my english (espically spelling) is poor. Science and Maths are my strong points. It was not picked up at school which pisses me off, as my university said (going on the fact I won a scholaship, predicted A Levels, GCSES and A level results) that if I could of done my A Levels on a PC I could of proberbly gained 300+ UCAS points rather then the 200 I did get. My A Levels are crap and not worth the paper they are written on.

Just to add I wasnt thinking of being a steward just comparing the 2 as it was mentioned on here that they have the lowest scores required and wondered about getting up the ladder so to speak.

To be honest I am not that bothered what I do in the Navy, as I know my choices are limited by my hubs being on bombers. Its being in the navy and the life I want (although to pick something I would hate such as chef would be crazy and I would not do that)

What branch would you suggest I go for, considering my circumstances? which are hubs on bombers and a daughter?

To be honest I discounted writer and SA as I thought that I wouldnt get to Faslane - is this not true?

PNW(tb). I spent nearly 4 years out of 7 at Faslane as a Writer, it was my preference shore draft, although I knew of a number of scribes who were there out of preference, and a number who wanted to be there but ended up on the south coast.

As I have said elsewhere, do not expect to get drafted to Faslane, no matter which branch you choose, even in todays more family friendly Navy, the requirements of the service will and must come first.

For a young wife and mother to join the RN takes a great deal of courage and conviction, so I have the utmost respect for your aspiration, but please do not join blinkered. Join expecting very long periods of separation, being at opposite ends of the country and if you do end up at the same base take it as a bonus

In terms of the process: fulfill the criteria; be selected; do the course; pick up new rate...yes, same routine.
In terms of the criteria...no, branches differ.
In terms of being selected...no, the numbers needed in each branch vary from year to year.

the RN is a career- not a hobby- I left after I had my second child- hardest choice I ever made- no kids- I'd still be there!!!

To join, when you have one child, and a hubby who is a crabmariner is either optimistic or stupid!!!!

You will do 8 weeks basic then however long trade- i believe about 12 weeks- then if you have a ship drafy off you go- but with minewarfare you may get held over at a WMO, or Cwd, etc..................... so what happens to hubby's career????????

"oh, he's happy to leave"............ love, he still has 12 months notice to give. .. child??????????????? what happens to the child????????

good luck and hats off to you--- I left cos I couldnt bear the thought of 8 months of kids in child care- 2 surrogate parents........... because my wage alone would not pay for child care / mortgage / bills/ luxuries/ etc...... but if you can do it on a single AB's wage with hubby being a house husband....... you have my utmost respect....

If he's 'happy to leave' then I would suggest waiting until he has left until you give it a crack.
I'm sure your husband's perfectly capable of raising your child, you wouldn't have had one together if you thought otherwise. But having to fit the child into your working lives? Personally I don't think it should be like that, not if you're choosing to go in while you already have your daughter.
It must be hard to see your husband live your dream, but I would imagine it's excruciating for anyone to leave a child behind when they have to (ie. One parent is in the mob), let alone choosing for both to be away.
If you can afford to go into education, which it sounds like you can, I would do as much of that as possible, you may even get better prospects than your husband.

I wouldnt want him to leave as he is in his mid 30s (he joined late) so he would be 40 by the time he left, kinda late to start brand new career and he does love being on boats!

Brave or Stuip I dont know to be honest maybe its both, we do want more children to and I am struggling with the dream to join the Navy or just to leave it but its like something burning inside me and I cant let go, perahaps I could wait until they are all older after all my husband joined at 33 and a half.

I would like to be a writer if I could get up to Faslane, and yes I do know that the needs of the service and all that come first.

I expect to get my time down to 14mins or under by the end of the year. I am determined and putting the effort in. I mean my husbands first go at thr 2.4km was 21mins and he was within normal BMI, 4 months later he was at 10mins. But I am giving myself much longer.

Think all I can do is go to college in September and see what happens at the AFCO in the new year.